New Mexico Historical Review Volume 80 Number 3 Article 11 7-1-2005 Review Essay: Marc Simmons; Historian of the Southwest Richard W. Etulain Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr Recommended Citation Etulain, Richard W.. "Review Essay: Marc Simmons; Historian of the Southwest." New Mexico Historical Review 80, 3 (2005). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr/vol80/iss3/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Mexico Historical Review by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Review Essay MARC SIMMONS: MAVERICK HISTORIAN OF THE SOUTHWEST Richard W. Etulain arc Simmons, New Mexico's leading historian, has always ridden a Mhorse ofanother kind. Freed from aCCiclemic turfsquabbles, working primarily outside the classroom, and writing most often for newspaper and other lay historians, Simmons remains his own historian. Launched as a doctoral graduate in the mid-196os from the University of New Mexico (UNM), Simmons's subsequent historiographical journey, although indi­ vidualistic, followed more closely the paths ofFrance V. Scholes and Herbert Eugene Bolton than the newer revisionist writings of scholars like Ramon Gutierrez. But to be more precise, Simmons is sui generis, a historian ofhis "­ own stripe, different from most other historians of New Mexico and the Southwest. The volume under review, librarian Phyllis Morgan's exceptionally use­ ful bio-bibliography, thoroughly displays the extraordinary dimensions of Marc Simmons ofNew Mexico: Maverick Historian. By Phyllis Morgan. (Albuquerque: Univer­ sity ofNew Mexico Press, 2005. xx + 368 pp. Halftones, bibliography, index. $39.95 cloth. ISBN 0-8263-3524-1.) Richard W. Etulain is Professor Emeritus of History and former Director ofthe Center for the American West at the University ofNew Mexico. A specialist in the history and literature ofthe.American West, he has authored or edited more than forty books. Among his recent books is New Mexican Lives: Profiles and Historical Stories (University ofNew Mexico Press, 2002). His narrative history ofthe American West from prehistory to the present is forth- coming, and he is at work on a biography of Calamity Jane and a book on Abraham Lincoln 32 5 and the American West. 326 -+ NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW VOLUME 80, NUMBER 3 Marc Simmons's remarkable career as a writer and scholar. Her valuable volume is divided into two sections. Part I (approximately one hundred pages) includes Morgan's thirty-page minibiography of Simmons; an abbreviated "Simmons Sampler" from his newspaper columns, brief essays, and lec­ tures and presentations; and a bibliography of biographical sources about Simmons. Part II (about 240 pages) contains a full bibliographical history of Simmons's manifold writings. This extensive section includes topical lists ofSimmons's books, an enumeration ofhis book chapters and essays, tallies ofhis articles in books and magazines, and the huge listing ofhis syndicated and other newspaper writings (nearly eighty pages in length). A thorough topical, title, and subject index completes Morgan's indispensable volume. Not surprisingly, Morgan takes an entirely sympathetic, descriptive view of Simmons and his writings. This collection is an appreciation, a salute to the achievements of the state's most distinguished historian. In her bio­ graphical sketch, Morgan straightforwardly emphasizes Simmons's Texas roots, his undergraduate and graduate training in Texas and New Mexico, and his notable career as a prolific writer on southwestern subjects. She correctly portrays Simmons-"New Mexico's historian laureate" (p. 33)­ as an indefatigable researcher, a man ofdiverse talents, and a person driven to tell stories of interest to historical specialists and generalists alike. Simmons's writings, however, should be seen in broader contexts than Morgan provides. To specialists in Borderlands history, Simmons is best known for his works on Spanish colonial government (Spanish Government in New Mexico, 1968), Governor Juan de Onate (The Last Conquistador: Juan de Onate and the Settling ofthe Far Southwest, 1991), and the history of Albuquerque (Albuquerque: A Narrative History, 1982). Students of the nineteenth-century Southwest are engaged by Simmons's thorough, bal­ anced work on frontiersman Kit Carson (e.g., Kit Carson and His Three Wives: A Family History, 2003) and his several books and essays on the Santa Fe Trail (e.g., Following the Santa Fe Trail: A Guide for Modem Travelers, 1984)' Still others find Simmons's smoothly written volume on New Mexico (New Mexico: A Bicentennial History, 1977) the best briefhistorical overview of the state. Ifmany specialists are drawn to these works on the Hispanic and frontier Southwest, thousands of other readers are attracted to his hundreds of newspaper and popular magazine stories. No one should mislabel these lively, appealing pieces as candidates for scholarly journals; instead, they have snared multitudes ofgrassroots readers intrigued with local, state, and regional history. For these devoted readers, Simmons serves up enticing ac- SUMMER 2005 ETULAIN ~ 327 tion stories and pen portraits of important persons, events, ideas, and other facets of the New Mexican and southwestern past. No other writer of the Southwest comes even close to equaling Simmons's more than twenty-five­ year tenure of contributing brief, readable vignettes to readers in New Mexico, Texas, and surrounding areas. If academic historians salute Simmons's thorough, fair-minded books and essays, lay readers praise his interesting, smoothly written stories of the region. All this means that, un­ like most professional historians, Simmons maintains and satisfies a large, loyal readership among non-academics (Indians, Hispanics, and Anglos alike) more apt to be addicted to posole and green chile than to the writings of most college and university historians. Simmons continues to satisfy both groups. It must be admitted, nonetheless, that these achievements have had their costs. When Simmons decided to launch his newspaper columns in the 1970S (presumably to feed himself since he did not hold an academic posi­ tion), that decision meant he would be tied to the monthly, even weekly, time-consuming production ofbrief, popular essays. Gradually, as Simmons's readership expanded -and the volume ofcorrespondence from readers and fans increased- he was unable to turn out the large, time-consuming books he had written earlier on the Hispanic and frontier Southwest. Had Simmons been able to continue focusing on larger projects, we might now have his much-coveted, definitive biography ofKit Carson or his completed study of Spanish agriculture in the Southwest. We can dream ofwhat Marc Simmons might say in biographies of Billy the Kid, Padre Antonio Jose MartInez, Victorio, Gov. Manuel Armijo, or Miguel Otero. Add to the wish list engag­ ing Simmons books on the Pueblo Revolt, the Civil War in the Southwest, or the raggedy transitions from Spanish to Mexican to Anglo New Mexico. Quite simply, we want everything from Marc Simmons, and there have not been time and pages enough for him to do all the newspapers columns and the books we wish from him. If one reads closely the complete lists of Simmons's books, essays, and newspaper columns in Morgan's book, a few patterns emerge about his oeuvre. The majority of the pieces, by far, cover the Hispanic and Anglo frontiers, from the late sixteenth to the closing of the nineteenth century. He deals with a welter ofSpanish topics and Indian leaders, and many ofhis columns treat New Mexican notables like Kit Carson and Billy the Kid. Doz­ ens of stories discuss some of Simmons's favorite writers: Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Charles Fletcher Lummis, and Jack Schaefer. He also informs read­ ers about newly published books or libraries and archival collections. 328 + NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW VOLUME 80, NUMBER 3 Simmons does not overlook the twentieth century, but his major inter­ ests obviously lie in earlier periods. He likewise pays less attention to cul­ tural topics such as music, art, and religion. Few columns are devoted to women's experiences or environmental topics. These emphases suggest that Simmons is less intrigued with the current "hot" topics of gender, class conflict, and environmental history than are younger academics in the west­ ern field. Morgan presents one mistaken notion about Simmons as an historian. She asserts that he "does not, and cannot as a historian, express personal opinions, make conjectures, or try to persuade readers toward one stand or another" (p. xviii). Not so. Simmons takes positions on controversial topics. For example, his books, essays, and newspaper columns present his point of view, clearly and persuasively, on the controversial Kit Carson. For Simmons (and for this writer), recent trends in historical writing dismissing Carson as solely an Indian killer reveal more about new revisionist currents in histori­ cal writing than about an important nineteenth-century figure. In his valu­ able new work, Kit Carson and His Three Wives, Simmons tells ofhis attempts to counter the villainous-even demonized-images of Carson, which of­ ten fail to show "respect for objectivity and the rules of evidence" (p. vii). Simmons also provided more balanced and complex portraits of Hispanic explorer and founder Juan de Onate in The Last Conquistador